PremiumJeyamohan calls Aadujeevitham a 'true Malayalam film', after rating against Malayalis in his Manjummel Boys review
Jeyamohan shared his thoughts on Aadujeevitham, which he believes embodies features that defined the bygone "golden era of Malayalam cinema."
Prithviraj Sukumaran in Aadujeevitham
Last Updated: 08.04 AM, Apr 04, 2024
Weeks after making sweeping statements against Malayalam movies and Malayalis in particular, while reviewing Manjummel Boys, Tamil writer Jeyamohan has heaped praise on director Blessy's Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life) . He has described it as a "true Malayalam film."
Recently, Jeyamohan shared his thoughts on Aadujeevitham, which he believes embodies features that defined the bygone "golden era of Malayalam cinema." He also claimed that no other talents in the Indian film industry, except for Malayalam filmmakers, could have made a movie with "this type of artistic expression."
Jeyamohan's reviews Aadujeevitham
In his review of Aadujeevitham, Jeyamohan took a swipe at the eroding artistic sensibilities in Bengali movies. "Today, that Bengali tradition has been destroyed by Hindi dominance,” he alleged. However, Jeyamohan won't be the first to make such statements about the depreciation of Bengali movies. Earlier, Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Kashyap made a scathing attack on contemporary Bengali cinema by claiming that the industry, which was championed by the likes of Ritwick Ghatak and Satyajit Ray, now produces trashy movies.
Jeyamohan also noted that neither Tamil nor Telugu filmmakers would have shown the artistic courage to envision and shoot Aadujeevitham the way Blessy has done it. He felt that a regular movie buff in Tamil Nadu might criticize the film, describing it as "boring, monotonous, slow-moving, or lacking in novelty in the second half." Jeyamohan suggests that such an assessment of the movie, drawn from the level of visceral entertainment it offers, would be unfair to a movie like Aadujeevitham.
“This film shows the unlimited inner potential of man. It depicts how the protagonist overcomes any situation with his own energy. It portrays great human moments formed through friendship and struggle. Malayalam masterpieces have featured many such great human moments before,” said Jeyamohan.
Blessy's Aadujeevitham strikes a chord
Jeyamohan also praised Blessy for ending the movie without becoming too melodramatic or overly sentimental, a sentiment also shared by director Mani Ratnam.
“This is a true Malayalam film. Malayalees have a personality of their own. We can call them great explorers and survivors. Aadujeevitham is a great Malayalam movie because it captures that state of mind,” said Jeyamohan.
Jeyamohan's praise for the globe-exploring ambition and artistic courage of Malayalis comes on the heels of his tirade against the latest Malayalam blockbuster, Manjummel Boys, which he alleged glorifies everything that's wrong with Malayali men.